Pneumatic malting apparatus.



No. 667,229. Patented ,Feb. 5, I901.

F. KNUTTEL.

PNEUMATIC MALTING APPARATUS.

(Application filed out. 20, 1900.

(No Model.)

fly. 1,

mfnesses:

FRIEDRICH KNI ITTEL, OF CHARLOTTENBURG, GERMANY.

PNEUMATIC MALTING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 667,229, dated February5, 1901.

Application filed October 20, 1900- Serial No. 33,773. (No model.)

T0 (0% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRIEDRICH KNtiTTEL, a subject of the King ofPrussia, Emperor of Germany, and a resident of No. 6 Franklinstrasse,Oharlottenburg, near Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire,have invented new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic MaltingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in the pneumatic maltingapparatus described in the United States Patent No. 513,467. This kindof malting apparatus presents, when the diameter of its drum exceeds 2.5millimeters, disadvantages which I will now first explain. In order tosecure a good ventilation of the grain, the drum must be filled to sucha height that the central tube is well covered. In this case theintermediate tubes must be brought so near to the casing of the drumthat when the volume of the malt reaches its maximumthat is to say, whenit swells uptwo of these intermediate pipes lie above the level of themalt, thus renderinga turning over of the latter possible while the drumis rotated. In order to secure the turning over of the malt during thelast stage of the growth of the grain, a space of at least fiftymillimeters must be left between the upper surface of the green malt andthe aforesaid two tubes extending above the said upper surface. If thespace were less, the malt would be too firmly packed between such tubesor would stow up behind the uppertube, and thereby be prevented fromturning. In the use of the drum constructed as described in the PatentNo. 513,467 it was found that the places near the periphery thereof arenot uniformly ventilated and that a sufficiently uniform ventilation ofthe malt is efiected only by these tubes up to certain distance fromtheir peripheries, so that the spaces between the central pipe, twointermediate tubes, and one auxiliary air-passage are not exposed toventilation to a suificient degree.

The object of my invention is to remedy this disadvantage by providingon the inner periphery of the drum special auxiliary airsupply passagesand to arrange the intermediate tubes at a certain distance from thecasing and from the central pipe,-these auxiliary air-passages andintermediate tubes being connected to an air-chamber provided at thefront end of the drum, while the central tube communicates with anair-evacuating passage.

For the purpose of rendering my invention clearly understood .1 haveattached to my present specification a sheet of explanatory drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of myimprovedmalting-apparatus, while Fig. 2 is a sectional View through thedrum-casing, and Fig. 3 a sectional view through the air-chamber of thedrum-casing.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts.

On the inner periphery of the drum A, which is provided at the end D,through which the air enters, with an air-chamber B, I dispose auxiliaryair-passages C, which are, together with the intermediate tube 0",connected to the air-chamber B, so that the air flows not only from theauxiliary air-passages, but also from the intermediate tube 'r towardthe central tube R, which is connected to the airexhausting passage E.The ventilation of the auxiliary air-passages C is, on account of theirgreater distance from the central tube, never as intense as thatproduced by the intermediate tubes 1'; but it is, as shown by exhaustiveexperiments, sufficient to insure the germination of the layers of maltthat are near them. The distances of the intermediate tubes from thecasing and from the central tube must in malting-drurns havinga diameterof more than 2.5 millimeters be so selected that they are in the ratioof one to three. The distance of the intermediate tubes from the casingcan only be reduced by a small amount, because with considerably-reducedinterspaces the malt, which has increased in bulk, would get packed andcould not be turned over, which would give rise to an entanglement ofthe radicals and the formation of lumps.

F, Figs. 1 and 3, is a pendulum-damper provided with a counterweight Gfor the purpose of maintaining it in proper position and preventing airfrom passing from the chamber B into those of the ventilation-tubeswhich are not covered by the malt.

It is obvious that the ventilation of the drum may be effected either bya fan working by suction at the exhaust end E or by a fan forcing theair at the entrance end D and that the direction of the current of airpassing through the drum may be reversed.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and wish to secure byLetters Patent, of the United States, is-

In a pneumatic malting apparatus the combination with a rotatable drumof a perforated central tube, intermediate perforated tubes located at adistance from the casing equal to about one-third of that between thecentral tube and the intermediate tubes, auxiliary perforated tubes onthe inner periphery of the drum, a chamber at one end of the drum, andconnected with the intermediate and auxiliary tubes for supplying theair to the drum, and an exhaust-pipe at the other end of the drum andconnected with the central tube essentially as and for the purposedescribed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

FRIEDRICH KNuTTEL.

Witnesses WOLDEMAR HAUPT, HENRY HASPER.

